Simplifying Expedition Food With Single Serving Sized Packages

MarthaBar
150 cal/oz

Now that winter is coming, a staple is Reese's Peanut Butter bars and Cadbury Roasted almond bars. Both in the 140 cal/oz range, as well as the 400 cal/$ range.

Loucks Sesame Snaps, regular or chocolate

sesame snaps are good and Halvah is 130 calories an ounce 150 an ounce for chocolate Halvah.

I make my own packages of oatmeal, powdered milk, brown sugar – in thin plastic. I use "Old Fashioned" oats rather than instant.

Same thing with soup packages. I repackage in thin plastic, add dehydrated green/red bell peppers, tomatoes, onions from packitgourmet.

For both – boil water, turn down to low so it doesn't burn, add food packet, bring back to low boil maybe 30 seconds, then let it sit for 5 minutes.

PocketFuel

I originally tried this stuff for trail running, where I found it a bit hard to swallow without copious amounts of water. For backpacking trips, however, it’s great! Works great either plain or spread onto a homemade bar.

PocketFuel

Roughly, depending on flavor –

170 calories per 32 gram serving, 1.6 "servings" per packet, 270 calories total
190 calories per ounce
70% fat from nuts
30% carbs from sugar

$1.35/ounce in bulk
$1.50/ ounce in packets

Eatmore's – probably the most common backpack snack food amongst the people I hang with

Short story, I was on the West Coast Trail and stopped at the famous Chez Moniques. I bought a bag of gummie bears for $3.50 there were 32 in the bag. Nothing ever tasted so good.

Interesting idea Ryan but has a couple of downsides: single servings never really the right size for the hunger you have at the moment; more trash to deal with; and more expensive than buying bulk.

I buy most items in bulk and repackage them in snack or sandwich size bags. Lots cheaper and no problems with leftover snacks since they can be resealed in the snack bags for later use.

yikes :

for one, i can eat a 16oz bag of cashews while drinking a cheap bottle of wine (both avail at Trader Joe's) at one sitting. no problems what so ever.
so "extra uneaten nuts" ??? what's with that program ….
like, you CAN't have too many cashews. you just can't.
you probably could not have too many macadamia nuts as well, but lordy, they cost a Ton more money.

also, that nut butter and salmon packaging is like, an neutron bomb of problems about to blow in a pack. that be just my op, but just one of those salmon ied's going off would seriously compromise a trip. and you'd never get the stench out. worse than diesel fuel even. which, i guess it's not really that bad once you decide to appreciate the aroma.

the cookies are not going to live long unless in a bear can, and that can is not packed very tight.

all in all, an interesting article, if only to see how other folks deal in various ways with the issues of eating fun on a trip.

as far as dogma goes. it's all good. you can go faster and easier with single servings of foods, that deal with opening multiple bags and doling out this and such amounts of whatever at every meal break gets old.
for snacks, i figure out in the morning what is the day's ration, and dump that in my front bag. when it's gone .. it's gone.

cheers,
v.

Yeah, we go through a few packets of this ourselves.

Cheers

I'm not seeing the utility of this article. There's nothing here about simplifying meal planning or eating except the convenience of buying pre-packaged. That's a weak justification, easily countered by the extra expense and packaging waste.

"… the convenience of buying pre-packaged."

Pre-packaged Snacks, at that.

Hardly "…the shopping, packaging, and preparation of expedition foods…".

But then, could it be that this Is all that Ryan eats? On one trip all he took were macadamia nuts and chocolate.

I guess it falls under HYOH and YMMV.

I thought I was looking at ads for snacks, but it was the article :)

I would rather package my own.

"…also, that nut butter and salmon packaging is like, an neutron bomb of problems about to blow in a pack. that be just my op, but just one of those salmon ied's going off would seriously compromise a trip. and you'd never get the stench out…"

I don't know about that – bear saliva is a great solvent!

I think single serving packets have a place in a backpackers diet. I use single serving packets of Artisana nut butters and coconut oil. They sell Walnut, Pecan, Almond, Macadamia, and Cashew nut butters that I know of, and a wonderful blend called Cacao Bliss that Doug Ide turned me on to. It is a wonnnnnderful mix of coconut butter and chocolate that is, as The Colonel says, "finger lickin' good". I
also carry Justins Dark Chocolate Almond and Peanut Butter bars. All are calorie dense, and the Justins bars contain anywhere from 25-29 grams of carbs in a 2 oz bars, along with 2-3 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein and 14-16 grams of fat.
The nut butters are up close to 200 calories in a 30-32 gram packet, with good amounts of protein and fiber, but not much in the way of carbs. Other than these items, I prefer to buy in bulk and repackage in zip locks. Cheaper, healthier, and more options for variety. Oh, and individual packets of Via coffee substitute. Sorry, Roger. ;0)

I'm a fan of prepackaged food in Griz country because I reason there is less chance of odors leaking out. Course the trash might smell so I don't know how much it helps.

The one thing I don't like about chips and GORP are that is hard not to get crumbs all over you and your gear. I wonder about that in Grizzly country.

Always nice to see someone else's ideas for food. I don't like gourmet style cooking on the trail but I like variety.

Most of my snacks are pre-packaged but I do like Pringles so those get repackaged. Sometimes I mix them with spicy nuts or chex mix, very tasty.

Epic bars…comes in bison, turkey or beef jerky. I like these for breakfast or when I have eaten too many gummy bears.

http://www.epicbar.com/

We package most of our food from the bulk (nuts, chocolates, etc.). However, for a bought/pre-packaged single serving, the PackIt Gourmet fruit smoothies are super delicious at roughly 4.7 kcal/g. Their Cheddar Jack Spread is also good and ~6.9 kcal/g.

I have no affiliation with PackIt Gourmet

Snickers bar eaten like George Costanza did, except I use a spork and Swiss Army knife. Professional backpacker Andrew Skurka likes them too.

http://www.premierprotein.com/uploaded/thumbnails/db_file_img_27_450xauto.jpg

$1.18 per bar at Wal-Mart with 30 grams of protein per bar; 110 cal per oz

Ingredients:
Premier Protein® Bar Protein Blend (Soy Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate), Glycerin, Sugar, Hydrolyzed Gelain, Palm Kernel Oil, Water, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Cocoa (processed with alkali), Cocoa Powder, Inulin, Contains 2% or less of the following: Whey Powder, Soy Lecithin (an emulsifier), Tapioca Starch, Nonfat Dry Milk, Malt Powder, Corn Syrup, High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Salt, Sucralose. CONTAINS: SOY, MILK.

I've tried a lot of "on the go" foods over the years, but nothing, I say nothing beats Ems Power Bars and Cookies. Em is a nutritionalist and famous NZ ultra distance multi sport adventurer. Check these out at http://www.powercookies.com/

Donna,
Those look awesome!

As someone who tries to avoid sugary, over-processed foods, I usually make all my own stuff, but I'll throw out Larabars, particularly the cherry ones, as one of my snacking staples.